'I'm just
off down the video store mate, 'Goodfellas' came out today, had to reserve a
copy!' In 1991 these words were actually spoken.. Back in the days of a store
owning one copy of a movie, with barely enough videos within the premises to
keep me happy for a year. It seemed romantic at the time, but the reality of an
age that had passed hit me a few weeks ago when while driving past a local
Movie Rental outlet I saw a sign that read 'All VHS Movies On Sale: Two For A
Dollar'. While it seemed like an opportunity to good to pass up, it also led me
to speculate about the end of an era. The death of days spent roaming through
acres of Z grade action films, 1988 in its prime. The 80's themselves in its
last death knell.

One of the drawbacks of DVD's is
that the majority of low budget, straight to video releases of the 80's will
never be transferred to the format, unless you transfer the video itself to
DVD. But the inescapable thrill of roaming aisles of videos, with huge boxes,
searching for that certain movie which could be taken home for an evenings
amusement. In the late eighties I recall a fascination with numerous horror
films, so many that the titles are somewhat elusive. 'Chopping Mall' springs to
mind. By the mid 90's the emphasis had shifted to 80's action films, with one
man army overtones.

The mindset of the 80's seems
particularly bizarre in the current day and age when scanning the pile of worn
out VHS littering my house. The genre of the disillusioned Vietnam vet was the
best, as countless films accumulated following the success of 'First Blood',
chronicling the same plot, only in more budget circumstances. Most movies
concerned a vet haunted by the war, trying to come to terms with everyday life
years after the trauma of the conflict, only to be roused back into action
after a tragic event occurred. In most cases he was a one man killing machine,
the best so to speak. The death counts were in the thousands, open warfare was
held in the streets, women were raped and killed at will, morals didn't exist.
What went wrong? With the modern era that is. How did humanity lose its edge?

Along with my brother, I viewed
hundreds of these types of movies. With the video store unloading them at such
a bargain price I tried to scoop up as many as I could. 'Day Of The
Survivalist'. 'Crossfire', starring Aussie hardman Richard Norton as Stryker,
former ace soldier sent to retrieve POW's in Laos. 'Avenging Force' starring
legend Michael Dudikoff, playing human wargames in the bayous of Louisiana.
Incidentally that was another dominant theme of the 80's Action lexicon. Human
beings used as live prey in war excercises held by radicals in the forest.
Where did this concept spring up? Can it be topped? Likewise the backward
hillbilly theme, hunting down city slickers, as witnessed in the Oscar worthy
'Hunters Blood'. Vigilantism anyone? 'Young Warriors'? Out of control high
schools? 'Class Of 1984?'

Seeing all these movies in the
last throes of their shelf lives meant the last time they will surely ever be
seen in public. It leads one to assume video stores will now be described as
DVD Rental. If there's no videos then what else? Much like cassettes. It seems
unlikely people are still buying tapes of new music released. Nothing will ever
beat the thrill of spotting a movie so ludicrous that it makes you groan out
loud in joy. Seeing a tagline like 'In Vietnam he was the best.....he still
is!!' I don't feel any magic coming from the decade we live in and the even
worse movies produced. If 'The Transporter 2' is supposed to represent the
state of action movies today then I'm not interested. Give me an action movie
starring Wings Hauser, with a pumping AOR soundtrack and real macho men you
could believe in.

With the shelves now totally
devoid of the dusty and faded video cases, one wonders how the gaps will be
filled in. The only surviving tape left was 'The Ken Patera Story'. I guess
nobody cared enough about the minor wrestling legend's stint in jail in the
80's for assault. I do. I just might snap it up. I'd like to snap up a time
machine as well and relive the thrill of hunting down a movie I thought I'd
never see again. Take me back to 1990 James. The death of VHS rentals in all
their crude splendour means a part of me died as well. At least I've got the
proof locked away forever.